August Break 2011 – A Review

Last year, I finished off The August Break with a review of both my photos and my experiences. I thought it would be a nice way to wrap things up again, so I started cropping my images into squares and trying to arrange them into mosaics. I found this to be a much more difficult process than it was last year. Hmm…

The first thing I noticed is that I had edited/posted far fewer images this year. Part of that was because I didn’t want to spend as much time as I had last year sitting in front of the computer, so I just didn’t. I think others were in the same boat as it seemed a lot quieter in the group – not as much “chatter” as last year. However, for me part of it was also due to the whole “online editing” learning curve. As I had decided to dedicate this month to exploring how to alter my images using various online tools (instead of just posting daily photos), it took a while to figure out what programs were out there, what each offered, and which one would be best for the photos I chose. There were a lot of options, and the resulting photos reflect that – which may also be part of why it was challenging to try and unify them. Still, I did spend some time at least looking at the over 5,000 images submitted to the Flickr group, and while a lot of them were merely snaps of some random happening of the day, there were also quite a few gems to be found, contacts to be made, and inspirations to be had. Woohoo!

As for the online editing component, my favourite and most used site by far was Pixlr. I love the simplicity of the Pixlr-o-matic – just upload your photo, click a button (or two or three) to alter it, then save it to your computer. QED. Next up was Picnik – which, although it has fewer “instant filters” that I like, has adjustable effects and regular editing features all in one place, so you can better control what you do to your image. Then there was the Polaroin site which will always have a place in my heart because of my love of Polaroids. And lastly, there was Rollip, which because of it’s more difficult process (choose a filter, then upload, then preview, then download, then try to figure out what you did so you can track it…) was my least used. Though, I think with a little more exposure to it (pardon the pun), it may still have some goodness to offer. Oh, yeah. And LunaPic, which I think I used once or twice. While these are all worthwhile options for a quick ‘n’ dirty edit, ultimately I found that I had little control over the final product. Or that they just couldn’t do what I had in mind. So. Last night we downloaded Adobe Photoshop Elements 9… eek! Wish me luck with that. 😉

Now, when looking at my photos from this year (vs. last), I see that they are much darker… moodier… less “romantic” in nature. I know this can’t be because I’m sleeping any less than I was last year, so I think it’s because I’m trying to do more on the same amount of sleep deprivation. Plus, the weather’s been crappier, it’s now been *two* years since I’ve had much “non-mommy” life, I’m disgruntled with the chaos of my home and garden (a.k.a. my usual subject matter), and yes, I think I may be going through some sort of mid-life “WTF?” crisis. Of course, I can still see my “style” coming through them, just maybe in a harsher way – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If looking at all the other photos in the group has taught me anything, it’s that different people like many different kinds of photography. Shots I though would be popular weren’t necessarily, and visa versa, so diversity is good. But this brings me to one of the things I didn’t like about participating – my increased desire for “approval” (views, comments, visits to my blog, etc.) Once again I found it really hard not to get all wrapped up in the popularity factor. Silly girl. And… I’ve got to admit I wasn’t thrilled about looking at hundreds of mundane images. But hey, that’s part of the “break” aspect I suppose, isn’t it?

At any rate, I am really glad I participated in August Break again, as it was a great way to document the month, see what was going on around the world, and it got me off my butt doing something creative on a daily basis once more. I think I’m going to have a really hard time going back to “straight from the camera” images again though. Especially now that I have Elements to play with! I really like what editing can do to an image – how it can give a photo more personality or convey something you just couldn’t capture with the given conditions. Although, I think I’ll have to be really careful not to let my photos get too cliche or dependent on post-production to be interesting – again, there has to be a “why” to justify altering it. I also like that all these effects encouraged me to stretch beyond my usual photo taking – like trying the whole “painted words on bodies” thing. The self-portrait of me with “make magic” on my neck wouldn’t be nearly as effective without all those sparkles. I am excited to see where that project ends up. Thanks again to Jen Lynn, Kat and Jennifer for helping me out with this!

So, yeah. August Break was awesome as usual (thanks Susannah Conway!), and online editing rocks. That pretty much sums it up. 😉 But I have to say, I’m ready for a little more breathing room. This whole daily producing and posting thing is very exhausting, plus I’d like to get back into some projects that take a bit more time to create. Anyway. Thanks for joining me on my journey and I’m sure I’ll see you sometime soon. Have a great fall, y’all! =)